The Death and the Harbor 2
Note: is the second chapter of the Jinki Fragments arc, and the fourth chapter of Part V. Awakening 2 A day passed since the Soul Empress visited Raian's shop in Rider City. Raian awoke late that afternoon, fixed some tea and went to go see how Seireitou and Minato were coping. As he entered the parlor of his shop, he noticed the members of MisQ sprawled out across his floor; all asleep. "Freeloaders..." he thought with a comical face. He then proceeded to the back room, where Jacqueline was asleep in a sleeping bag next to Minato and Seireitou's cots. "She must have been with them all night..." he assumed. Just then, Hake Getsueikirite, Raian's son entered the room, his eyes widening in surprise at the sight that his father was now awake and in the room. "Dad..." he muttered. "What is it, Hake?" Raian asked. Hake's eyes narrowed in sadness, and he looked down and away. "I feel as though I've failed you." he confessed. "What would ever make you think that?" Raian asked, ruffling his son's hair playfully. "You've never failed me." "Its just that, I've been unable to help you protect everyone. If only I had my own Shinigami powers..." Hake sighed. Raian chuckled, "Don't fret so much. They'll awaken when the time is right. You're still young. Too young, in fact, for Shinigami powers." Just then, Jacqueline stirred and woke up, "Hello family." she smiled, still groggy from sleep. "Hey Jackie." Raian replied, returning her smile. "How are they doing?" Jacqueline rose to her feet, summoning her healing barrier around Seireitou and Minato once more. "Minato has fully recovered. Its just a matter of time before he awakens. Sei-sama, on the other hand, still hasn't made any progress..." she replied. Raian's eyes narrowed with worry, "Sei...what's happened to you?" he wondered. It was only a few moments that had passed as Minato's eyes slowly opened, as if he'd just awaken from a deep night's sleep. "Wha... Where am I...?" he questioned in a soft voice, slowly trying to sit up, though his entire body was sore, making it difficult. "Take it easy." Jacqueline said, putting her hand on his shoulder to stop him from stressing himself too much by trying to get up. "You're in my shop in Rider City. I took you here after the ordeal in Karakura Town to keep you safe." Raian explained, folding his arms. Perhaps he could now finally get some answers. Minato slowly began shaking his head, trying to remember what happened before he had woken up just now. He then looked over to his unconcious master, his eyes widened. "No... so then... it wasn't a dream, after all... It really happened..." he spoke, shaken up. "You've been asleep for about two days. We were able to heal most of your injuries, but Sei-san's injuries are proving more difficult. Do you remember anything about the fight you had? What caused Sei-san to pass out?" Raian questioned him. Minato lowered his head, in both guilt and confusion. "I'm... I'm not..." But then, a loud knocking came to the door of the shop. Into the Soul Society Raian opened the door, only to find that no one was there. He scratched his head. Must've been those pranksters from down the street. As he was about to shut the door, he sensed a sizable amount of reiatsu, causing him to turn back around. There, in the air slightly above his shop, was a Senkaimon. Rukia Kuchiki and another Shinigami stood in it. "You...!" Raian gasped. "You?!" Rukia shouted, offended. "What do you mean you?! We haven't seen each other in over a decade, and all you can say is you?!" "I'm not Kurosaki, Kuchiki. Don't expect much more of a reaction." he replied comically, causing her to leap down and smack him with her tabi. "Who's the new guy?" Raian asked, rubbing his wounded head. Rukia glared comically back at the Senkaimon, "That is a member of the Seijin Order. Watch out for him, though. He's a pervert." she explained. Naoya bore a comically saddened face. "Rukia-chan is so mean..." he grimmaced. Minato's eyes were drawn to the new arrivals. He noticed the black robes worn by Rukia, and how similar they were to Raian's. "Do those... black robes, represent something?" he asked out loud, hoping someone would hear him and answer. Raian looked back indoors at Minato, "Yes, Minato-kun." he said, "These black robes represent the guardians of the dead. Those beings that protect the World of the Living from evil beings known as Hollows. It is what I am, what your master, Seireitou is, and what these two guys right here are. We are..." he took a deep breath and smiled at Minato, "...Shinigami." "Shini... gami...?" Minato sounded out, his eyes in shock, for he knew that word meant "god of death". "Earlier... that guy. He called me... a Jinki Fragment... right? Are those related to Shinigami as well?" he then asked. Rukia widened her eyes in shock, "There are others who know about the Fragments?!" she gasped. "I'll fill you in later, Rukia nee-chan." Raian replied. "They are somewhat related, Minato-kun. You are a Jinki Fragment, and so am I. In that way, I am like you. By the way, I'm Raian. This lady right hear is Rukia; my adoptive sister." "Call me 'that lady' again, and you won't have a face anymore." Rukia mumbled comically. "The woman who healed you, that's my wife, Jacqueline." Raian continued, the only sign of annoyance with Rukia being the vein in his head. "We're here to help you, Minato-kun." Minato looked at the group, and then looked back down, trying to understand it all. Naoya then stepped forward. "Rukia-chan. Shouldn't we explain to them why we're here?" The Plan Rukia nodded, "Right. Raian, I really must speak with you." she said, seriousness returning to her voice. "Alright, we can speak in the other room. I'll go get the others up." Raian replied. He entered the parlor of the shop. Loud smacking noises, along with shouts of comedic anger and pain arose from the room as Raian awoke MisQ. When he returned to the back room, his hair was in a frizz. "Right this way." he said, letting Rukia and Naoya into the parlor. Jacqueline knelt back down beside Seireitou, "I'll stay here with Minato and keep him company while I heal Sei. You take care of your business." she stated, turning back to Seireitou. Raian nodded and then closed the door behind him. "Now then, what's this all about." he asked. Naoya sighed softly. "We received orders from Aki-jii, the current leader of the Seijin Council, to track down whatever Jinki Fragments we can before Mūkade-san gets ahold of them. Between us two Soul Society reps, we were expecting your assistance and... Seireitou-san's. But, in the case of Sei, that won't be happening, from the looks of it. Therefore, we need you to join us in finding these remaining Fragments. I'd recommend having a small team, as we don't want to alert Mūkade-san to any large movements, but being said, just the three of us won't be enough either." he explained. "We could go get Ichigo-" Rukia began, but was cut off. "I don't want to involved Ichigo in this, Rukia." Raian interjected. "This isn't his fight. Its ours. My group will help you guys. We can use this place, as well as my home as our Human World base. The problem is the other Fragments. Won't gathering them just draw Mūkade's attention?" Naoya placed a finger to his lip, "That is true. But it's a helluva lot better than letting Mūkade-san put his hands on any of the Fragments. Sooner or later, we will need to confront him." he retorted, crossing his arms. "At any rate, perhaps it'd be best to split into two teams, each with no more than five people. Two groups will scour the World of the Living and Hueco Mundo, and the other will scour the Reikai. Since the Reikai is more dangerous, perhaps it's best that us three be in the team that handles that." he explained. "Also... what do we do with that Minato kid?" Naoya asked. "It's best we not get him involved, Raian nii-sama." Rukia commented. "No, he's a Fragment. He needs to be involved." Raian rebutted, "Besides, leaving him here unprotected could be a disaster." "But he doesn't even have any reiatsu!" Rukia argued, "He'll be killed!" "He has reiatsu," Raian pointed out, "Just not his own. Its a long story, but if we take him with us, I'll be able to train him. Eventually, he will gain his own reiatsu and powers." Rukia folded her arms, "Fine, you win, but I don't like it." she said truthfully. "You okay with this, Naoya?" Naoya kept his arms crossed. "Minato was able to see me and Rukia-chan, meaning he does have a level of spiritual awareness. That should be proof enough. Sure, let's bring the kid along. That makes four... who will be our fifth?" Rukia smiled, her hair covering her eyes as she did, "I made arrangements for this one. He should be here any moment now." she said, grinning. As if on cue, a Senkaimon appeared in the room, causing MisQ, Raian, and Naoya to move their attention to it; shocked to see it there. Raian was even more shocked to see who stepped out. As the doors of the Senkaimon opened, Mashū Getsueikirite, Lieutenant of the Tenth Division, stepped out into the room. Raian looked on, dumbstruck at his brother's arrival, but more so by the amount of physical changes he had gone through since they'd last seen each other. "Yo, bro." Mashū said, "Long time no see. You really should visit Soul Society more often." Tears flooded Raian's eyes. It had been six years since he had seen his brother. After he had lost his Shinigami powers trying to save Seireitou from his despair, he had become unable to see spiritual beings or travel to Soul Society. "You idiot...!" he barked through his tears of happiness, "You know I couldn't do that." Mashū smiled, "Regardless. Let's kick some ass! We don't need Sei-san to have a party." he reassured Raian. Naoya smirked softly, "I'm a sucker for touching reunions and all... but we should also plan out the second team, who'll cover the world of the living and Hueco Mundo." he stated. Minato then slowly walked into the room where this was all happening, appearing to have heard a great deal about what they discussed. Raian wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shihakushō, "Let that be the members of MisQ. The five of them should be more than capable of handling themselves. Plus, they all use Fullbring. Their powers will increase in Hueco Mundo, and since they are Humans, they have the home court advantage here in the Human World. Jacqueline can remain here to take care of Sei-san." he suggested. Naoya looked over to Minato, who apparently understood that his life was about to change forever. "Well Minato, looks like you've made some new allies." he grinned. He then turned to face Raian. "Well then, we'll be off for the Reikai then. If you're going to train Minato, it'd best be done somewhere with a higher concentration of reishi." he suggested, heading outside to open a Senkaimon. "One moment." Mashū interrupted, reaching into his shihakushō for something. "Yuigō Kokorozashi-taichō wanted you to have something." "Yuigō...taichō?" Raian asked, in a daze. "Yeah, she took over for you when those Central 46 bastards kick you out." Mashū replied, pulling out a whit haori and tossing it to Raian. "Is this my...captain's haori?" Raian asked, even further shocked now. "But, I'm not a captain anymore." Mashū grinned, "Maybe not, but you've always been my captain, and I think Yuigō feels the same. You should wear it...for old time's sake." he suggested. Raian took a moment, looking over the haori as many memories poured over him. Shutting his eyes, he smiled and tossed on his haori, which still fit him perfectly. "Alright, let's go to the Reikai!" Raian declared, confident as he led his friends out of the shop and into the Senkaimon. To be Continued... Shinigami Encyclopedia "Welcome to this episode of Shinigami Encyclopedia~!" declared a jubilant Rangiku Matsumoto. Muffled noises are heard of screen. "Will someone keep him quiet!" Matsumoto screamed, revealing that she had duct taped Raian to a chair. "In this episode, we'll be addressing Sei-senpai in his Inner world... With a little provocation, of course~!" she explained, holding up a box of make up. She stepped out of the way of the camera, revealing Seireitou, still in a coma, with makeup adorning his face, and a woman's haori draped over him. She then held up a viewscreen, which showed Seireitou's inner world. "Say 'hi', Sei-san~~!!!" she declared. Suddenly, Seireitou's face filled the viewscreen. "Matsumoto, what have you done?" he snarled. "You haven't even seen yet!" she replied, trying her best not to laugh. She turned the viewscreen to Seireitou's body, causing him to begin screaming in anger. "Matsumoto! What have you done to my body?! Matsumoto!" he roared furiously from the viewscreen while Rangiku laughed at the top of her lungs. "Matsumoto, I swear when I wake up I'll-" he began, but she turned the screen off while she laughed harder. "Until next time folks~!" she declares with a wink.